I’m on my way to Flint, Michigan today (at the airport right now, in fact!) to attend a Baker College faculty conference… But I just wanted to share a couple more wedding photos — I love these shots!!

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Carrie shared yesterday about The Invitation that Jerry read for us at our wedding. It was certainly very moving and appropriate for us!

Another item that Jerry shared with us at the wedding was something that he said had served him and his wife, Helen, well for all the years that they had been together.

He said that there will be times when things aren’t perfect, when they are not going so great. Times of trouble or struggle or strife. At these times, he told us, we need to remember two things…

“It’s not important.”

…and…

“It doesn’t matter.”

I really appreciated his point – that too often we get caught up in trivial things and that distracts us from really enjoying life and our relationships – what really is important and does matter!

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Before the ceremony the groomsmen all hung out in the Acqua bar at the Marriott. When viewing these pics Carrie exclaimed, “I didn’t know you had a beer before our wedding!” Oops. Busted.

I had checked into our room earlier and dropped off my luggage, but needed a place to change into my tux. So, Brendan and I headed up to his room and his wife Julie decided to make a hasty exit – smart move Jules! Steve joined us later, although he had mentioned that he had considered changing in the parking lot. Uh, Steve, I think that you have been officiating too much!

We got changed into our formal wear and hung out. I was pretty thirsty (thanks to hanging out and drinking with my cousins Jason and Molly til about 3am the night before!), so I snagged the bottle of water from the room. This later promted a text from Julie to Bren: “Who drank the $4 water?” LOL!! Brendan simply replied, “The groom”

After putting on my shoes, I realized that I was not very comfortable. See, the tuxedo store gives you socks – and you can infer from the fact that they are giving them to you that they are not exactly the greatest. I started thinking about options – going back to the house for another pair, etc. – while I was complaining to Brendan. This is when he pulled out what we like to call a “veteran move”.

“Have you never rented a tux before?!? Sheesh!”, he said. “Look – when you go in, try on your tux, just before you leave… You turn to the guy there and ask, ‘Were there supposed to be socks with this?’” Yes – Brendan used a little social engineering to get an extra pair of socks from the tux place. And, since I was the groom, he took one for the team and tossed the extra pair over to me.

“This…”, I said, “is why you are the best man!”

It also might be why in the photos above I am standing and he is sitting! Thanks Bren!

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Carrie and I really hadn’t planned much for this weekend – sometimes we both enjoy just staying home and chilling out. Somehow, though we found ourselves going out Friday and Saturday nights!

First, our good friends Matt and Kendall called us on Friday to see if we wanted to go to dinner. Of course! So, we ended up at Chuy’s, sitting outside imbibing in a few frozen margarita’s and enjoying the evening.

Carrie and I were a little late showing up because Carrie wanted to look at our wedding photos, and it takes quite a long time to get through 1300 of them! We didn’t make it, so we had to save some for after dinner… It was fun to come back to go through the rest of the photos, including the ones of Matt and Kendall that we found (that’s them toasting us on the left).

Then, Saturday afternoon Jen invited us to join her and Arnie for “dinner and wine” at their house that night. Just a “spur of the moment” dinner where she whipped up some venison, sweet potatoes, and asparagus — it was awesome!!

We really enjoyed hanging out with Jen and Arnie as well… Probably a little too much as we stayed longer than “we wanted”. Well, not me, but Carrie had some scrapbooking projects due, so she was up until the wee hours of the morning once we did finally make it home!

We really enjoyed the chance to chill out with some good friends over the weekend – so, thanks guys!! Already looking forward to the next time!

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We received our wedding photos yesterday — almost 1300 of them! Wow!! Here are just a few…

The cushions!

Carrie and me just after she walked down the aisle and her dad gave her away.

Carrie and I love this photo of Ryan during the wedding prayer – adorable!!

The boutonnieres!

The ring!

The recessional!

The wedding party and our new family!

There are so many incredible photos, thanks to our amazing photographers! So, expect to see several more here later this week, along with stories about the wedding and us!

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